


09. comity

by hedonists



Category: EXO (Band), NCT (Band), SuperM (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Chaptered, Eventual Sex, Fluff, M/M, Pining, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:02:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 18,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26199022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hedonists/pseuds/hedonists
Summary: lee taeyong is a fashion student at the most prestigious theory school in seoul.byun baekhyun is the hot barista at the cafe close to home.taeyong is obsessed. baekhyun is unmoved.taeyong wonders what a guys gotta do to get a little dick around here.
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun & Lee Taeyong
Comments: 21
Kudos: 58





	1. 01.

**Author's Note:**

> so this one is very much for me. it would rule if other people took interest in it, but i think this will very much be a labor of love for me specifically.  
> hopefully i finish it, additionally, i hope other people can enjoy it too.  
> i've always loved college/coffee shop au's probably because i'm 100 years old so they're nostalgic for me.  
> that said i don't have plans of making this very long so don't feel like you're signing up for an especially long ride. i just wanna do something with a bit more substance like i dabbled in previously with strength/weakness.
> 
> hoping to hit: some fluff, some angst, some practice at detail writing, and most of all, sex (duh).
> 
> i really love this ship, they're so much fun to write lol
> 
> hope you enjoy

the first time taeyong saw him at the coffee shop, he made sure to sit at a table where he could have an easy view. the cute boy with the dyed red hair and circle glasses that probably weren't even prescription and just an additional way for him to look totally cute - taeyong was smitten - more than usual, despite the fact that he  _ did  _ have a habit of falling in love with every handsome person he crossed paths with. he remembers the last one - that really pretty colleague of his - but she was 33 and thought of him as a bit of a kid even though he was 25.

taeyong pouted, resting his chin into a propped up palm.  _ "i wonder how old he is, he doesn't look 33…"  _ he thinks to himself, sipping on his iced coffee with his other hand. staring, albeit accidentally. 

taeyong was popular with people who were attracted to attractive men. he wasn't especially tall but he was slender in sort of an artsy, edgy way and he wore clothes well - much of his items personally customized to his liking with little drawings or badges pinned to bags, hats and jackets. bleached out blonde hair, perfect smile, and a small scar sitting next to his right eye - an almost delightfully artistic commentary about the concept of beauty within flaw. taeyong had heard it all before, as a student at the most prestigious and frankly, stuck up, art school in seoul.

he tried not to let it get to his head, but he also had encountered mirrors. generally speaking, taeyong didn't have problems with others when it came to romance.

he had problems with himself.

_ "i wonder what his name is…"  _ he then thought, noticing that the boy behind the counter was the only one without a name tag on. naturally, that would have made things a little bit too easy. however, it  _ is _ a quarter past 2 in the afternoon and taeyong has class so he figures if he's going to say something then he better get.

he wasn't shy, so no problems there. 

taeyong leans behind him towards the trash receptacle and bends in such a way that he's able to get his empty cup inside and stands, grabbing his bag from between his chair and the wall and slings it over his head to rest on his shoulder - catches a glimpse of himself in the reflection of one of the framed paintings on the wall that he just finds  _ so dull _ and starts towards the counter again. it's slow, the only other few patrons in the cafe already seated and the two employees simply carrying on with busy work as they chat casually, taeyong sliding up casually and waiting to get the attention of the object of his affection.

_ "about the same height, maybe a little taller…"  _ he thinks to himself as he waits.  _ "cute butt…"  _ and that train of thought is cut abruptly short as the ideal conversational candidate finally turns around and notices taeyong, stepping forward and apologizing for making him wait.

"what can i get for you?" he says in that incredibly manufactured customer service voice that most people who work in the field eventually develop. taeyong figures he's been working here for a while, then, if he's  _ this  _ good.

"yeah i was just wondering what your name is, actually," taeyong says, smiling and leaning forward across the counter slightly - he wants his intentions to be obvious, but not so much so that he's going to have to find another cafe.

he watches one corner of the boys lips curl into a smile and taeyong knows that he's got him.

"i'm sorry but i don't think that's important"

and taeyong's knees just about to give out right then and there, on the spot.  _ huh? _ however, taeyong doesn't quite know  _ what  _ to say in response - so he says nothing for a few seconds that feel like an eternity before he finally pulls himself back from across the dark polish wooden bar, straightens his shirt and clears his throat, and smiles. taeyong laughs, nervously.

"ah, sorry," he starts, brushing a hand through his hair, "you're not.... _ you know _ …"

"i don't think  _ that's  _ important, either"

weird answer, because it's not an affirmation.  _ "do you fuck men or not, what's difficult about this" _ taeyong thinks to himself, but he'll give the guy the benefit of the doubt and not show how tired he's already growing of the interaction.

"right then," taeyong starts again, looking down at the floor, then sort of at anywhere around the two of them as long as it's  _ not  _ at the man in front of him. "okay, got it!" 

and taeyong makes his way towards the door. a bizarre interaction, that's for sure. once taeyong makes it outside, he turns back towards the large window of the establishment he just exited, only barely able to see through the glass given the time of day, and watches the way the red hair boy carries on with his work duties as if nothing had even taken place, smiling and laughing with his coworker. he wonders if they're talking about him, but he also sort of doesn't care. taeyong checks his phone for the time and realizes that this whole scene carried itself out rather quickly and that he is quite ahead of schedule, looking around the street area for something else to do, somewhere else to go to kill time, before he ends up simply settling his gaze back inside of the cafe, and onto that shining red hair.

taeyong always liked red hair.

he also realizes that now he wants to know everything there is to know about this man. where is he from? where does he stay now? is he in school? if so, where? and most of all, why is his personality like that when pretty boys ask him things about himself.

wait, scratch that, "do you fuck men" is definitely more important than why is his personality like that.

taeyong nods to himself in affirmation while he thinks the tier list of considerations through in his head, still standing outside of the cafe. if there's one thing he knows for sure, it's that he's found himself his new regular coffee spot, and that he'll be seeing that man again tomorrow.

  
  
  


two days later, taeyong finds himself back in front of the same coffee shop - only it's approximately 7:30 in the evening this time and he doesn't have any other engagements that he'll have to get to. he walks in to what is at this time of night, a much busier cafe and manages to find himself a seat that is still somewhat in view of the counter - it's not ideal, a bit obstructed by a large, decorative plant with fairy lights adorning it, and a few other people sitting here or there within taeyong's immediate line of sight but he knows he has to take what he can get. he sets his bag down along with his black jacket and heads up to the counter.

and there he is.

no glasses this time, and his hair isn't styled with product like it had been the last time they met. still cute, taeyong thinks to himself, and upon being greeted normally he carries on with ordering as usual until he notices the  _ one  _ thing that  _ is  _ different this time.

"you have a nametag this time! is it because i was so bothersome last time?" taeyong teases, nodding towards the little gold rectangle lazily hanging off of the boys apron.

"i had forgotten mine at home, it happens," he replies. taeyong notes it's the nicest exchange they've had thus far and maybe his charm is already wearing him down. "that'll be 3000won"

taeyong slowly gets his wallet out, trying to prolong the interaction as much as he can without making it too painfully obvious and he lets out a small chuckle under his breath, despite nothing being especially humorous. "guess i reminded you to have it on at all times, huh?"

and the man in front of him only smiles, quite obviously waiting for taeyong to hand him money so that they can get on with the point of their interaction. taeyong feels the life drain from his body in the most dissatisfied way, hands his money over, takes his drink, and slinks down into the chair that he had saved for himself without another word to the barista. 

but it hadn't been a total failure of an interaction. baekhyun.

a cute name, an uncommon name. taeyong tries to think back to another time that he's ever known another baekhyun and fails to draw the memory back. maybe the name is reserved for men who eventually grow up to look like  _ that _ . but it doesn't take long for taeyong to snap back to reality and remember the devastating loss that he had to take in yet another interaction with this baekhyun fella.

he brings up his hand and takes to his pouting pose yet again, sipping his drink and staring towards the boy, watching as he wipes down the espresso machine with a white cloth.  _ "ah seriously,"  _ taeyong thinks in frustration,  _ "why is he like this? he must really not be into men",  _ which is not the normal assumption taeyong makes when rejected (not that it happens all that often) - he recognizes that not all people who don't give him the time of day simply  _ must  _ not be attracted to men at all, but the coldness in responses certainly does lend itself to the question, as normally even gay dudes are flirtier with taeyong.

but regardless, the reason doesn't matter, and taeyong solemnly sips at his black plastic straw, staring more or less in the direction of his object of affection.

  
  


8pm rolls around and taeyong gets a text message in, pulling his phone out of his skinny jeans pocket with absolutely no ease or grace whatsoever and looking at the notification on his screen. it's from jaehyun. of course it is.

"so how did it go with the barista?"

taeyong rolls his eyes because he's not really in the mood to explain how he failed yet again, especially considering jaehyun will  _ never  _ let it go, but he unlocks his phone anyways and sets his drink down long enough to begin tapping words into his screen.

"still working on it"

and before he can set his phone down, jaehyun sends in his response. "how have you not sealed the deal yet dude you've been there since 7"

"i've been here for 30 minutes, first of all, and second of all, i got his name" 

it's not  _ totally  _ a lie.

"okay so spill, tell me everything about him"

jaehyun always was nosey like this.

"baekhyun. he's working so we didn't get to talk much"

"dude you're throwing it, this is crazy to watch. not gay?"

"dunno" taeyong sends the text, but starts typing again immediately, "must not be am i right? lmao"

"have a wonderful night, taeyong" jaehyun's way of calling taeyong a moron and ending the conversation, which was the intended outcome anyway, he laughs and sets his phone down once and for all only to look back up and find baekhyun standing  _ literally  _ right next to him, with a half empty tray of items. taeyong jumps - silently - which he is very thankful for, but visually jumps nonetheless.

baekhyun doesn't really react, though. 

"can i take anything away for you?"

" _ yeah you can take my cock in your mou-" _

"i'm not quite finished yet, thanks," taeyong's actual, verbal response. he thinks it's a very good thing that mind reading technology does not exist.

baekhyun smiles at him and turns to head towards another table nearby, taeyong watching him the entire time. man has no ass but he doesn't really care, either, when you're that fine it doesn't matter. taeyong thinks again about how pretty baekhyun's lips are when they curled into that smile and then also paired with the immediate thought response that jumped into his head but didn't waste time shaking that collection of thoughts right back out of his mind. not the time or place, could be useful for later though.

  
  


when 8:50pm rolls around, taeyong stands up, tosses his cup and starts collecting his things to head home as the cafe closes at 9pm on friday nights anyways. he hears the ambient music come to a stop and watches one of the other employees begin bringing chairs from outside, inside. tell tale signs of it being time to go from any food or drink service place. he sighs and checks his phone again, just in case anything had happened between him checking the time two seconds ago and now and of course, nothing had. he looks back up towards the counter - baekhyun is cleaning out the pastry case shelves with a rag and taeyong thinks that despite everything, the man is still just  _ so  _ cute it's sickening. it's in that very same thought that taeyong remembers he has an advanced color theory assignment due early the next morning that he has not even begun and nearly cusses out loud, hurriedly collecting his things in such a way to cause a disturbance that even baekhyun looks up from what he's doing to get a visual on the situation. taeyong weighs his options - he hates to be that guy, but he's about to have to do an all nighter and he's not at all sufficiently caffeinated for the job. the blonde hops over in a few strides, baekhyun watching him all the while, and taeyong smiles nervously, again. 

"look, i hate to be that guy," he starts, but baekhyun cuts him off, "what do you need? we're kind of limited right now a lot of the equipment is off and cleaned for the night…"

taeyong looks around and behind the charming red hair that he loves so much as if to assess the situation, "well, just tell me what my options are then"

"i mean," baekhyun says, turning to look behind himself as well, "i can basically toss you a regular coffee to go and that's it," but taeyong nods affirmatively, "yeah that's fine"

baekhyun turns from his annoying customer, carefully pouring a black coffee into a styrofoam cup, delicately placing a lid on it, and handing it back to taeyong.

taeyong watches his hands the entire time.

"how much?" taeyong asks, pulling his wallet back out for the second time that night, but baekhyun shakes his head, "it's fine, drawers already closed, don't worry about it."

"you sure?" taeyong asks again. "yeah it's seriously fine, it'd be more of a hassel to take your 2000won"

and the two simply stand facing one another for a moment before taeyong smiles, "thanks, you're a life saver"

"yeah no problem, good luck on whatever your  _ thing _ is"

and now  _ this  _ is the nicest interaction they've ever had, taeyong thinks to himself. he grabs his things in a rush and hurries himself out as to not be in the way of the staff trying to close up any more than he already has been and just like last time, before heading home, taeyong stops and turns back to gaze into the cafe - now with a clear view inside thanks to the night sky. baekhyun back to cleaning the pastry case, but stopping for a moment to look up and the two boys make eye contact yet again. taeyong makes an executive decision in the moment and raises his hand in a bit of an unsure goodbye gesture.

baekhyun simply goes back to the work he had been doing previously. 

taeyong lowers his hand back down to his side awkwardly, but remembers that he has quite the time sensitive situation at hand and quickly turns towards the direction he needs to go. he recalls his conversation with jaehyun not too long ago and wiggles his phone from his tiny pocket again, attempting to type despite having one hand full of a hot beverage. he finishes his text thought and slides his phone back from where he pulled it, smiling briefly and pulling his jacket closed in the chilly autumn night as he walks home. 

  
  
  


_ "free coffee. not doomed." _

_ "free shit definitely not doomed"  _

  
  



	2. 02.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> taeyong struggles to navigate the social mazes of literacy and (potentially?) straight people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> johnny the token straight, that's it.

_ "taeyongie…"  _

the word reverberates through taeyong's entire self like a full body shiver while he tries hard to focus on the slender fingers slowly making their way up his thigh, to his hip bone, and then to stop curled around his waist slightly. he looks down briefly and it's only red hair - slowly bobbing up, and then down - taeyong's head falling backwards as if too heavy for his neck to support. he doesn't know where he is, what time it is, what's going on...he knows  _ who  _ thought.

_ "baekhyun,"  _ slips out in a breathy exhale, and he feels the fingertips on his waist press into his flesh.  _ "i think - i think i'm -" _

"DUDE"

taeyong quickly springs to life from the seemingly comatose-like slumber he had just been in, pulling his covers up and over himself even though they already had been.

but just in case.

jaehyun stands in his doorway, taeyong spots the bobby pin in between his bony fingers and rolls his eyes, "how many times have i told you not to fucking break into my room?"

"you're  _ two hours late  _ to class," jaehyun says, illuminating the screen on his phone and turning it towards taeyong. "you had Advanced Pattern Theory at 8:15, it's going on  _ 11 _ "

so, this knowledge  _ is  _ annoying to taeyong. he's not the type to skip class and he's definitely not the type to sleep through alarms and just flat out  _ miss  _ class, so this is sort of a mark on a personal record that he keeps for himself. mom and dad pay for school, yes, but it's still something that he chooses not to take for granted.

"okay well," taeyong sighs, moving to slink himself out of bed but realizing that he can do no such thing until jaehyun leaves. "okay well get the fuck out? i'm up!"

jaehyun is acting normal, so taeyong figures he gets away from this one with ease.

"sure thing, buddy, i'll let you finish up" jaehyun snorts, turning and shutting the door behind him with a loud thud.

a slow blink of irritation is all taeyong can muster up to himself in response because after all...he  _ had  _ finished.

  
  
  


as a fashion student, taeyong takes notice of every detail - at least, he likes to think he does. everywhere he goes he's noticing color, and patterns, the way pieces fit or don't fit together and the way some times abstract concepts can come together in a beautifully artistic way. taking something usual and making it unusual was taeyong's personal specialty. he liked finding regular items and customizing them to his personal liking - much to some of his friends dismay, knowing the price tags of some of the items that he took to vandalizing for the sake of artistic expression. 

so it was no surprise when taeyong decided to take particular attention to the cute barista's bland uniform. bland to the untrained eye, perhaps, but it certainly had it's own visual uniqueness. dark brown as the base color for the apron, with small white accenting along the lengths of the shoulder straps - and an embroidered pink flower next to where the employees are meant to pin their nametags. taeyong can tell that dress code is relatively lax in the fact that everyone wears different shirts under the apron everyday - probably a guideline of to's and not to's but nothing too strict, and it appears that any pants will do - definitely has to be pants, though. shorts are tacky. maybe women are allowed to wear skirts or dresses as that's typically the case but taeyong isn't sure that any women even work there so he can't conclude either way. 

he finds his imagination got away with him in the quiet moments, and that he had done a croquis of baekhyun.

the truth of the matter, however, was that taeyong had been at the cafe now for a little over an hour and hadn't been up to the counter, and thus hadn't ordered anything yet. despite knowing that baekhyun obviously isn't  _ aware  _ of the dream that he had, unfortunately, taeyong himself was aware and had to live with the crippling terror of ever speaking to the man again. but it  _ was  _ a cafe, and he didn't want to carry on the rest of the afternoon loitering, so he crushed the doodle into his bag and mustered up the courage to head towards the counter.

today was busy. big tests are around the corner and the majority of them are theory instead of hands on - which take place nearer to the end of the year, usually right before christmas break - so many people are cramming hard before their respective test. taeyong considers how lucky he is that he only has two, and both for classes that he feels quite adept in. for him, it's a sense of short holiday - if you don't have many big tests coming up then classes and schedule slow down significantly. it's a much different layout compared to your traditional university.

taeyong was thinking of going back home for a week to visit his parents and his sister, but now he's not so sure.

"what can i get for you?"

taeyong finds it sort of annoying that baekhyun insists on talking to him like taeyong  _ didn't  _ just have a sex dream about him.

"the usual, light ice"

"name?"

taeyong  _ had  _ been somewhat zoned out because of how the interaction had already begun going, but this snapped him straight back into the troposphere. "sorry?" he asks. it dawns on him that baekhyun hasn't known his name this entire time.

"for your order, your name," baekhyun says, holding a cup in one hand and a marker in the other, "to write it?"

beautiful and also effortlessly disappointing, taeyong thinks.

"right," he sighs, trying to reel back his disappointment, "taeyong"

he watches gorgeous hands scribble onto a plastic cup and for just a second he allows his mind to wander back to the dream he had had just the night before, until baekhyun requires the exchange of funds for coffee from him.

the shirt baekhyun wears under his apron today is somewhat fuzzy in texture, a sweater with the sleeves rolled up three quarters. black and white horizontally sliced. boring but he's not the fashion student, after all.

the sweater makes his shoulders look broader than they normally do, though.

taeyong hangs around the tail end of the counter waiting for his order, scrolling through social media on his phone, lackadaisy listening for his name to be called out before he finally hears another employee yell across the tiny cafe, "taeyang?"

_ "surely not…" _ he thinks to himself, turning around just in case, and much to his dismay, making eye contact with baekhyun who stands further down still taking orders - giving him a happy nod to enjoy the coffee that was definitely his. probably the first time baekhyun even emoted in his direction and it was about getting his name wrong. unbelievable scenes.

but taeyong takes his drink, grabs and straw, and sits back down at his table - first attempting to do something with all of the hair that had decided to give him a hard time that day but eventually giving up and just turning his cup to look at it.

he shakes his head.

not only does it read taeyang in english, but it reads in hangul as well. baekhyun got his name wrong twice in one night. taeyong thinks it must be some sort of sick prank that's being played on him by one of his friends at this point - baekhyun has to be a friend of jaehyun's this whole time and jaehyun is just trying to get him back for  _ some  _ annoying thing taeyong did once upon a time. blonde hair falls into taeyong's eyes once again and all he can think is that he knows jaehyun doesn't have any siblings but if he did he would definitely fuck one of them right about now.

  
  
  
  


when they meet later in the evening for some beers, taeyong tells jaehyun the story and he laughs - both because it's absurd and also because he wishes he  _ had  _ had something to do with it, because how absolutely brilliant. taeyong leans his face into his hand and presses lips against his beer glass without any intent and jaehyun watches him without a word at first. he's been rejected before, and he takes it as well as anyone would, but this one feels different and all anyone can chalk it up to is  _ "thats how it is sometimes,"  _ which taeyong finds neither helpful insightful nor comforting.

"he might not even be gay, man," jaehyun says in between sips. jaehyun's only been out now for about three months and taeyong laughs at his apparent conviction in all cock loving matters. jaehyun is also  _ gay  _ gay. 

"he doesn't have to be gay, not everyones gay, i'm not gay," taeyong insists, waving his free hand about, "it's tricky to navigate sometimes"

"ah yes, my good bisexual friend lee taeyong," jaehyun chuckles into his glass as he takes a sip. jaehyun  _ always  _ insisted that taeyong was gay even for years before the man himself game out as full on, cocks only, gay - all the while, taeyong was happily dating  _ and  _ fucking people from all walks of life.

"oh here we go, are we gonna do this again? suppose it  _ is _ a day that ends in 'Y'"

"no, i believe you ever since you went after that milf from your internship"

"she was 33, and did not have kids dude"

"yeah yeah"

taeyong laughs and sets his now empty glass down, slapping jaehyun on the shoulder next to him. "we should get back, it's getting late"

"yeah," he responds, also setting his glass down. "are you gonna go to the cock shop tomorrow to stare at your straight boy?"

"yeah, probably"

"sounds good, let's go"

  
  
  
  


today he decides to make an effort - even more than usual. extremely fitted black skinnies, an oversized blue sweatshirt with the front tucked into his belt and his yellowing blonde hair styled up off of his forehead - taeyong sets his things down at his usual, comfortable seat and heads straight to the counter to greet baekhyun.

"hey"

"what can i get you?"

"you know you got my name wrong last night on my drink"

he's trying to make a joke and be coy, but he realizes after the fact that baekhyun has never really taken to that and now he probably just sounds like an annoying customer complaining about nonsense.

"oh," baekhyun starts, bringing a finger up to his lip thoughtfully and taeyong takes quick notice of the gesture.  _ "i thought people only do this in movies, but god his hands are fucking pretty…" _

"i'm sorry, it was quite loud and busy i must have heard wrong," he explains, adjusting his glasses before reaching for a cup and the same marker as last time. "let's try again?"

taeyong wonders why the first thought in his brain is "marriage?"

"iced coffee, light ice," he says, and then smiles, "it's taeyong"

and baekhyun smiles in return.  _ "is this an exchange!?"  _ taeyong thinks to himself, trying to hold back his excitement and appear to be a normal fucking human person on the outside.

he watches the man scribble onto his cup for the second time - must be a new thing they're implementing considering it's not busy at the current time in the morning. he pays and he heads down to wait for his drink, which only takes a few minutes before it's slid down to him.

taeyong sits, lightly tossing his keys and phone onto the table, along with a traditional paper notebook he uses for sketching ideas before he catches a glimpse of the tail end of a name on his tall plastic cup. he almost doesn't even want to turn it to reveal the truth. the truth it too painful at this point, he thinks.

but he musters up the courage, grimacing as he twirls it and watches the condensation fall into a puddle on the table - the rumors were true, baekhyun was a fucking idiot. okay, maybe not an idiot, but he might have been punking taeyong for sure at this point. a quiet morning with only a handful of customers in the shop and absolutely no hurry and this is what he gets.

"taeyeon" the scribble reads, in both english and hangul.

  
  
  


"it's actually completely unreal how this can keep happening to me," taeyong starts. he's already about three beers in and not exactly known for holding his alcohol gracefully, but jaehyun and johnny listen intently to the rant carried on by the blonde boy across the table. "it's like he's doing it on purpose, it's like i'm not even a real person interacting with him sometimes like am i simply hallucinating that this person even exists? how can this be real"

the two friends look at one another and jaehyun shrugs because he's heard it all before. it's johnny's first time being filled in on the baekhyun saga, as it were. 

"i mean, he might just be straight?" johnny says, also shrugging.

"i don't know what that means, honestly," taeyong starts, "are straight people illiterate?"

jaehyun immediately responds "yes," and receives a swift kick from johnny, next to him.

johnny is their token straight friend.

"okay NO, i'm just saying he might know that you're trying to put it in him and he's trying to show you he's not interested because he's at work and he can't be mean to you"

"so he...spells his name incorrectly?" jaehyun asks, squinting questioningly at johnny, which taeyong is also doing. "is this like, something that happens often in Straight Land?"

"your customs confuse me," taeyong also adds just before johnny audibly taps out of attempting to add any insight into the situation.

"i don't know dude, what are you gonna do?" asks jaehyun, setting an empty beer glass down on the table and checking his phone for the time, "also we should get out of here, i have class tomorrow"

taeyong just shrugs, arms crossed and drunkenly pouting like a toddler across the table. the other two manage to talk taeyong into standing up and heading home despite his insistence on having another round. they step outside into the cold night sky of late september and taeyong shivers - johnny leaning down and rubbing hands up and down his arms roughly to warm him up like a parent would their child and taeyong whines and shrugs him off all while jaehyun laughs at them.

"the place is actually like, a block that way," taeyong notices, nodding to the groups right.

"mm, what place?" a voice pipes up from behind them. taeyong turns first, quickly, recognizing the tone, and almost immediately passes out, or screams, or both simultaneously somehow but arms on either side of him grab him and steady him before he steps back and into traffic out of shock.

circle glasses slightly fogged up from the way his scarf is up and around his mouth, red hair sort of puffy and parted in the middle like he didn't bother styling it much that day - a grey hooded sweater with a front pocket to keep his hands warm, and he smiles - both with his lips and his eyes.

taeyong thinks he might actually throw up.

baekhyun greets and bows to jaehyun and johnny, who both do the same and baekhyun turns his attention back to an absolutely red and flustered taeyong, who has yet to speak a single word since the social intrusion.

"i'm sorry, am i interrupting?"

"no" jaehyun says.

"nope" johnny answers almost immediately thereafter.

"i saw you leave just now, i also have a table inside with some friends so i thought i'd say hi" baekhyun says, "or goodbye, i guess" he laughs.

taeyong is considering that this is actually an alien that has abducted baekhyun and body snatched him and that this is not actually the same quiet, coy, difficult baekhyun he's been dealing with at the coffee shop. he also considers that he would still fuck this alien baekhyun.

"no it's...it's fine," taeyong finally mutters, laughing nervously and now hyper aware of the fact that his friends are standing by and watching this terribly awkward situation unfold. 

the four stand in complete silence for what feels like an eternity before baekhyun finally smiles and bows again, mentioning how nice it was to meet the other two and to see taeyong again. something about  _ see you at the cafe _ taeyong thinks he heard but he can't tell because he thinks he dropped dead already some time between baekhyun initiating a conversation with him and watching his friends interact with the guy he's had a wet dream about. but he watches baekhyun head back inside and when he disappears from sign, instantly feels the judging gaze of his friends on either side of his head.

"are you stupid?" johnny says first.

"ah i got it," jaehyun starts, throwing his hands up into the air dramatically. "i understand  _ everything  _ now, see i thought the problem was him"

"no no," taeyong says in defense, "that is  _ not  _ how he is when we're there, i don't know who that man just now is"

"well whoever he is you better cut the shit and get his number the next time you see him because this is getting ridiculous" jaehyun replies, playfully pushing taeyong in the direction of their apartment as they say their goodbyes to johnny. throwing an arm around the blonde boys shoulders jaehyun pulls him in close and pulls their heads up against one another as they walk slowly down the cold sidewalk.

"he's cute," jaehyun says, "real cute"

"yeah"


	3. 03.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which romantic obstacles may actually begin to be maneuvered, only to arrive head first into a different kind.  
> aka, can taeyong ever catch a break?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is rated.  
> :)

as october rolls around, taeyong finds that his hair has grown just a bit too long, but without motivation to do much about it he simply starts wearing it in a loose, sloppy, ponytail and calls it enough. people still compliment him on the style and he knows it has less to do with any apparent  _ style  _ and everything to do with how he looks. he wishes someone else would notice, instead. with practical exam season quickly approaching taeyong spends more and more time at home or in the shop, scribbling loose, uninspired sketches to paper only to crumble them up shortly after and tossing them in the bin placed right behind him. being third year he thinks to himself about how he should be more prepared for this, he only has the one practical exam anyways.

but he's been distracted.

he looks up briefly to watch baekhyun smile at a patron and hand them their change. he eyes the cute birthmark placed delicately on the boys thumbnail - such a peculiar spot for one, unlike anything he's ever seen before, but it charms him. everything does, though.

taeyong presses eyes back down before his work and places his pen to the paper, lackadaisy dragging ink across it without any real reason or intent to it until the table across from him is flung out from it's pushed in position and a body is sat upon it. he's almost too afraid to even look up.

but continuing to look down spots the very same birthmark.

he does strong arm himself into looking up through his eyebrows after all, to a grinning face sitting before him. a beautiful, grinning face. clear frames outlining his facial shape - not the usual round ones he normally wears but it's a cute change of pace, taeyong thinks.

baekhyun sets down a kitchen timer onto the table, and it makes a loud dinging sound at the impact.

"speed date me"

"i'm sorry?" taeyong replies, still simply staring at the man before him. 

"i set this to, oh, say, five minutes - and in those five minutes you can ask me anything you want to know, and i'll ask you anything i want to know"

still staring, and now somewhat considering the fact that he passed out at some point during the study session, he looks around slowly before meeting eyes with baekhyun again. "i - i mean, okay,"

"great, time starts now!" baekhyun hurriedly replies, swiping up the timer, setting it, and putting it back down just as quickly, he then sits with arms folded - back up against his chair, and stares at taeyong in return.

silently.

taeyong decides that he has to assume that this is a real situation that's happening right now and sets his pen down, turning his work upside down to focus on the task at hand. "what's your family name?"

"byun. uncommon but byun baekhyun is quite phonetically pleasing so i'm happy with it," he says right away, and happily at that, and rapid fires back a question of his own. "what reason do you spend so much time in the area?"

taeyong is taken aback, almost physically so. baekhyun's never been this interested in him, much less this forward. "i go to Mitchells, i'm a fashion student there"

"ahh," baekhyun nods, "that makes sense, we get a lot of them in here. i suppose you look the part as well"

"is that a compliment?" taeyong asks, quirking an eyebrow, and baekhyun smiles and shrugs. "if you want it to be"

"how ol-" baekhyun starts before taeyong cuts him off, "you don't get to go twice in a row!"

"i'm not! you asked if it was a compliment, that was your question!"

"that's not fair that's not what i was using it for!" taeyong argues back, but baekhyun only laughs, "play by the rules or don't play at all! if you're in uni you're not like...19 are you?"

and taeyong puts his hands up defensively, "no, no," his quickest reply yet. "i'm 25," he then stops, having not considered the possibility before but now the line of questioning begs the answer. "... _ you're  _ not like, 19, right?"

baekhyun jokingly frowns and shakes his head, "no," and taeyong watches him take his glasses off in order to clean off one of the frames. "28, actually."

it's music to taeyong's ears. he swears that the skies opened up and the angels sang over them in that very moment.

"do you want to go do something some time?"

taeyong actually isn't ready for the question. at all. and visibly so, the way that he just about chokes on his drink when it's asked - coughing repeatedly and face turning red. with a tiny, brown napkin pulled to his face he squints and attempts to gain his composure, all the while baekhyun watches him calmly.

"like…"

"yeah, sure"

  
  
  
  


weeks go by and much to taeyong's dismay, the two never  _ did _ go out. schedules never quite matched up and baekhyun working constant hours, taeyong finds it difficult to get the man out. he wants to assume that it's not a rejection because after all, baekhyun is the one that asked  _ him  _ to hang out sometime, but the lack of initiation and actual follow through on the situation makes it hard for him to believe anything good, and with christmas season exams starting up, taeyong's own schedule gets harder to work around. nonetheless, taeyong finds his free time spent in the same cafe just as it had been the prior months - working on designs and researching different fabrics to put something together that he could be proud of - but it was proving difficult for two reasons. one, because he was struggling with the artistic inspiration and two, because he didn't have an actual model to bounce ideas off of. jaehyun was much too busy with his own exams and johnny was - frankly - just too fucking big to work with.

when taeyong finally dwindled his possibilities down to three designs, he made the decision to be brave about the situation for once. sitting and waiting until 9pm rolled around one thursday evening that baekhyun was working, he turned to kneel backwards in a booth in front of the large window facing the street, watching the snow fall onto the sidewalk and people immediately press various shoe prints into it.

he quite liked winter, actually. he found it romantic despite it's bitterness.

but when baekhyun headed out, with taeyong waiting for him, he finally asked the red haired boy that he had been pining for for so long if he would help with his exams.

"of course," baekhyun nods, a concerned look washing over his face, "is it okay though? i'm quite short"

"that's better for me, honestly," taeyong laughs, "less fabric i have to buy"

taeyong thinks that the way baekhyun looks when he smiles under falling snow is probably how people fall in love.

  
  
  
  


"hey?"

taeyong hears the familiar voice in the common area of his apartment and dashes out of his room, hoping to limit any contact that jaehyun may have with his guest, but as expected, jaehyun is already there and conversing with baekhyun in the two seconds it takes for taeyong to arrive at the scene.

"baekhyun, you remember jaehyun?" taeyong sighs, rolling his eyes because jaehyun is just having a  _ great  _ time.

"pleasure," jaehyun says as they both bow to one another. "anyways, i'm heading out for the evening so feel free to be as loud as you want"

taeyong knows that looks can't kill but he's sure hoping that the one he's flashing jaehyun right now could change that - the look on jaehyun's face tells him that he knows what he's doing and he's loving it. jaehyun leaves and baekhyun kicks his shoes off, chuckling, "your friend seems nice"

"he's a handful but he's a perfectly good class of people"

the two men walk into taeyong's room and baekhyun is actually somewhat taken aback by how clean it is. he knows taeyong isn't a kid so he didn't quite expect it to be teenaged boy levels of messy, but this is quite unexpected. taeyong notices and laughs.

"i don't spend a lot of time here so it's easy to keep up with"

"that's right, you spend all your time at the shop"

ah, that familiar feeling of having to puke! 

taeyong ignores the comment, ruling it not needing a response and pulls out some storage boxes from under his bed, filled with fabrics and sewing equipment and all sorts of things, but of most importance, the work in progress sitting on a mannequin at the other end of the room. taeyong points towards it and asks baekhyun to bring it over.

"wow, you made this? like, everything?" baekhyun's eyes are wide as he drags the heavy item across the floor and taeyong nods, using his lips to carry the pins he could no longer carry in his hands - which now held more fabrics. "yup, everything" he still managed to mumble out.

"that's really impressive"

"well, don't be impressed yet, i still have to fit you, then i have to make alterations, then you have to actually see if it's wearable and doesn't just completely fall apart when you try to take a step" taeyong laughs, setting the sewing box down next to baekhyun. "i have to take your measurements"

"sure"

it hits taeyong a little late, he realizes, what this means. slowly pulling the measuring tape from the box of supplies and unraveling it, he uses the back of his forearm to push stray blonde hair from his forehead because it's all becoming a little bit too real now. how did he  _ not  _ think of this beforehand?

this is a lot of information for one man to have about another man that he wants to have sex with.

it's not like he's measuring his dick, of course not, but he's going to have to get awfully close to his dick to get the measurements he  _ does  _ need and,  _ oh no. no no. stop thinking about it, idiot. _

taeyong feels a familiar twinge in his own pants and thinks his life is almost comical at this point.

"is something wrong?" baekhyun asks in a concerned tone, watching taeyong who is knelt in front of him hesitate for a reason unknown to him.

"everything is fine just looking for a different tape measure!" taeyong quickly responds. it's a lie, but what does baekhyun know? "it's fine though, this one is fine!" he finishes, standing in front of baekhyun and just  _ praying  _ that he doesn't look down with a suspecting eye.

  
  


but taeyong finishes up the measurements he needs quickly, and professionally - not even making one single joke about being on his knees in front of baekhyun despite wanting to (and not meaning it as a joke, either). baekhyun seems excited about the progress of the blonde boys exams and tells him that if he needs anything else, he's happy to help. this delights taeyong, of course.

it also terrifies him an unfathomable amount.

  
  
  
  


"do you have plans tonight?" 

taeyong is a little surprised by the forwardness of the question as baekhyun locks the front door to the cafe, huddling himself in his parka.

"mmm, no, nothing in particular," he says, "was probably just going to see what johnjae were up to i suppose"

"do you want to go to a party with me?" baekhyun asks, pulling his phone out from his jacket pocket. it's only 7pm - the shop closing early due to new years eve holiday. taeyong simply looks at him for a few moments, then flashes his own phone screen at himself before accepting the invite to tag along.

taeyong ignores the 7 texts he has from jaehyun about their plans tonight, and baekhyun doesn't need to know  _ everything _ .

  
  


when they arrive to the apartment building, it's in a rather upscale area in seoul, and much more than taeyong was expecting to be headed to considering he was wearing some ripped up skinny jeans and a loose black sweater underneath his heavy jacket, but baekhyun insisted that it wasn't anything fancy and it was just a small, casual get together with some friends he knows and some friends of friends. not that taeyong cares, he's there for one reason and one reason only, after all. 

the doorman takes their coats upon granted entry into the building and taeyong takes notice of the burgundy red button down baekhyun is wearing under his...a few of the top buttons a bit undone for taeyong's comfort and he swallows hard trying not to let his mind get away with him already. he finds it hard to ignore the way the boys hair and shirt match almost identically, and wonders if it was a fashion choice made on purpose, although surely people with red hair sometimes just want to wear other red items without it being an entire fashion ordeal?

but these are the things taeyong thinks about - as a fashion student - and how much he wants to put his mouth on the collar bone carefully peeking out from under the shirt is what he thinks about as a man who has sex with men.

  
  


when they get up and into the apartment, taeyong is relieved. he expected a loud, roaring, messy party of sorts with beer pong and loud music but instead is met with fifteen or so people - rather quietly spread about the apartment in small little gatherings, talking amongst themselves. it's exactly what he was hoping for, exactly the  _ setting  _ he was hoping for.

he was going to make a move tonight, after all.

baekhyun pulls him along and into the kitchen to greet the owner of the lavish condo and is introduced to an extremely tall, extremely good looking gentleman that frankly almost makes taeyong wonder about the rest of baekhyun's friends - but the thought dissipates as quickly as it comes to him and he bows respectfully.

"park chanyeol," voice heavy and deep and with a smile and face that don't even particularly match. "baekhyun's told me a lot about you"

"oh?" taeyong questions, turning to baekhyun quickly who puts his hands up defensively and laughs, "ah it's nothing like that, but i don't normally make friends at work, is what he means"

taeyong's eyes dart to chanyeol to check if he's lying, and based on the facial response of the friend, he is. he chooses to keep it to himself.

"but feel free to eat anything, drink anything...as long as you don't break anything we're good," chanyeol says, marking the ending of the meeting between the three, "i'll be around if you need anything"

"thanks," baekhyun says.

"your friend seems nice," taeyong starts, turning to his right to grab a cracker with some cheese on it off a platter and stuffing it into his mouth.

"he's a handful," baekhyun says, recalling the conversation they had at taeyong's place not long ago, "but he's a perfectly good class of people"

they both smile.

  
  


the night carries on effortlessly, much to taeyong's surprise. hanging around a bunch of people that he has never met before isn't exactly his comfort zone but he finds comfort in the reason that he came, and watching baekhyun socialize with his friends is an enjoyable addition to the night he had already had planned. taeyong has a few drinks, not too many, as to remain clear enough headed. he kicks himself a bit, as he's a tad bit more drunk than he had anticipated on being but he let the night get away from him as a result of good conversation but he figures it still to be okay.

he recognizes that he has also let baekhyun's drink number get away from him as well, however.

taeyong takes a moment away from the crowd and steps out onto the balcony to take in the view - a sight he's never seen before, not like this. his parents have money and they have a nice place but they're home owners, not bachelors in a swanky apartment the way that chanyeol seems to be. he wonders for a moment why  _ that's  _ not a thing that baekhyun is taking interest in.

he also considers that in Gay Land, it's probably already happened.

taeyong takes a slow sip of his drink and turns to set it down on the table behind him, finding a lost pack of cigarettes and deciding to steal one. he's not much of a smoker but after a few drinks and the right social setting he's been known to partake. he lights it and takes a drag, looking back out over the view and checks his phone. only two irritated texts from jaehyun telling him how annoying he is for ditching them. by now taeyong  _ had  _ actually told them that he made other plans at least, so jaehyun's annoyance was old news. he knew his friend would get over it, anyways. turning to the table to grab his drink again, taeyong hears the sliding glass door slowly move and watches baekhyun slink out from the other side of it, grinning.

a sly grin, a grin that taeyong's never seen before.

baekhyun slowly slinks towards taeyong and leans up against the guard rail, "i didn't know you smoke?"

"i don't really," taeyong says, "i can put it out"

"it's okay, i kind of think it's hot"

he's not sure if it's the alcohol, or the nicotine buzz, or the words he just heard, but taeyong feels woozy.

but he doesn't have much time to react, either, as baekhyun presses himself into taeyong's torso - forcing his back against the cement railing and places his mouth not even really  _ on  _ taeyong's, but rather on the corner of it, then trailing down to his jaw.

_ oh my god it's happening. _

taeyong drops the cigarette from between his body fingers and brings both of his hands up to rest on baekhyun's hips but before he can even find a good place for them he feels baekhyun's left hand reach down, and then to the front, and then right on the mark of taeyong's pants and the blonde worries that he might actually just black out from over stimulation despite the fact that nothing has even happened yet. baekhyun palms at him - hard - a little too hard, and taeyong winces in response, pulling baekhyun off of him a little bit and it's then he begins to realize.

"come with me," baekhyun whispers to him, taking him by the hand and dragging him indoors, through the crowd of people and into a corridor in the apartment. taeyong watches them pass one bedroom, then the bathroom, and stop in front of another bedroom before baekhyun pushes him inside and shuts the door behind them.

it appears lived in, so much so that taeyong assumes it's the main bedroom. chanyeol's bedroom. and taeyong wonders the morality of them being in there, along with any other implications that maybe he's not exactly privvy to but baekhyun doesn't give him much time to contemplate anything as he's pushed onto the bed and baekhyun climbs immediately over him. 

he's seductive. sexual. slender fingers pull taeyong's shirt from where it's been tucked and snake up the front of his chest while plush lips finally meet the blonde man's mouth and taeyong takes the moment to truly savor the taste he's been waiting  _ so  _ long to have.

apparently, it tastes like rum and coke. heavy on the rum.

but baekhyun shifts to his side a bit to grant his hand access to the front of taeyong's pants again and taeyong moans into his mouth - feeling the way baekhyun smiles against his lips in response. baekhyun rubs the stiff mound hard - too hard - and taeyong winces this time - into baekhyun's mouth, but he's starting to realize that baekhyun might be too inebriated to really notice the difference and it's taking him out of the scene.

"mmm," baekhyun moans into taeyong's ear, sliding down his face and back up to his lips again, "i want you  _ so bad _ right now" he groans, pressing his own erection into taeyong's leg and it's  _ tragic _ , taeyong thinks to himself. he really is starting to believe his life is simply a series of very sexy, very unfortunate events.

"yeah, i-" taeyong starts, unsure of how to respond exactly because he desperately feels the same but also absolutely is not going to fuck baekhyun tonight. it's a delicate situation to navigate. "i do too but-"

he feels the drunk slob on top of him grind his erection hard into his leg again and the sexual tension is making him dizzy because on one hand, being this drunk is absolutely  _ not  _ sexy, but on the other hand, baekhyun being hard and begging him to touch his dick  _ is  _ kind of a little bit sexy - go figure.

"so," baekhyun breathes the words into taeyong's lips, "do you want to finally feel me tonight?"

"aaaaalright!" taeyong says, abruptly, tossing baekhyun off of him and quickly getting himself up and off of the bed, sliding his hand down his pants to adjust his painful erection that he had no plans on having tonight - because if he had, he would have worn more spacious pants. "look you are... _ too  _ drunk, you're very drunk"

baekhyun lies in bed, on his back, looking at a stressed out, horny, boy in front of him and he grins, but remains silent. he makes a show of the way his pretty fingers begin to crawl their way down the length of his body, unbuttoning his pants, and then sliding in.

taeyong audibly swallows, but his eyes don't lose focus.

he watches the way baekhyun's back arches a little as he palms himself with what little room he has, and it's when baekhyun's eyes crack back open to look at taeyong - a gasp escaping his lips - that taeyong realizes he  _ really  _ has to get the fuck out of there.

  
  


he makes sure to ask chanyeol if it's okay that baekhyun stays there for the night, to which he agrees, sort of chuckling. 

"he's gonna be bummed that he drank this much, but you're a good guy. i'll let him know."

  
  
  
  


previously, after all of those months, taeyong had prided himself in the fact that he hadn't jerked off to baekhyun. an arbitrary goal post, thankfully, he convinces himself after he comes into his fist for the first time in relation.


	4. 04.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> taeyong evens the score with poor choices of his own, baekhyun has to decide if he can move past them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is rated.
> 
> we're almost at the end lads, hell yeah. thanks for the positive response to everyone who is reading this, be it in comments left or my friends who message me about it, it makes me happy. i love seeing it. i love you.

taeyong glances at the waitress as she sets down an empty glass along side a bottle of beer in front of him, but only long enough to acknowledge the act thankfully before turning back to sulk at the table. jaehyun sits kicked back in his own chair across from him, and johnny sat forward - attentively - fingers laced together in front of him thoughtfully. taeyong pours the beer carefully, sighing. 

it's been a week since new years.

"so that's it then?" jaehyun perks up, "dude gets too drunk  _ one  _ time and it's over for you?"

"it's not really about the one night," taeyong groans, head lazily falling to his side as if he's explained this a million times before - which he has - only to himself. "it's a culmination of things - i mean, we've been at it for  _ months _ now"

" _ you've  _ been at it for months," johnny adds in, "baekhyun has only recently become a willing participant, maybe you should cut him some slack"

"i guess"

  
  


as the night comes to the close and the three part ways, jaehyun playfully takes a sulking taeyong's hand into his on their walk home, lacing their fingers together in the cold air - taeyong's metal rings biting at the skin. 

"give him the one off," he says, squeezing the hand he has held in his own and lightly bumping into taeyong, shoving him across the width of the sidewalk. "there's way worse things someone could do than have too much fun on new years eve."

"yeah i guess"

  
  
  
  


two weeks since new years and taeyong still doesn't quite feel up to facing baekhyun. he imagines baekhyun is equally mortified given how the night played out, due to making no effort to reach out to taeyong whatsoever. he really does wonder if it's a natural end to the progression of their friendship. relationship. situationship? he always did  _ hate  _ that word, and he finds that he hates it even more when it becomes personally apt.

he looks down at his phone, 9:13pm - a good sign, because he's right around the corner from the cafe and it's right along where he needs to go but it's pretty well past closing time so no one should be there. he turns the corner a bit quickly - and probably should have given it a look first - because he should know by now that his luck in these sorts of situations isn't all it's cracked up to be.

he stops in his tracks, watching baekhyun turn the key in the lock of the front door of the establishment. someone is with him but he can't quite tell who it is, but he hears the two of them giggling to one another in the cold breeze, even through the sound of the traffic around them but it's actually the  _ only  _ thing that taeyong can hear.

and then baekhyun looks up.

"oh taeyong!"

he forces a smile. maybe he should have taken some acting classes when they were presented to him after all.

baekhyun carefully makes his way over through the snow, most of his face and hair tucked away into the hood of his jacket and under his scarf and as cute as he looks, taeyong can't help but draw his attention elsewhere. to the other person. to... _ her? _

baekhyun notices and laughs nervously, "ah right, this is my, uh-" he hesitates, "...hyemi, lee hyemi"

_ "ahh, i understand." _

"nice to meet you," taeyong bows. he almost takes more interest in her than in baekhyun - because there's something intriguing about seeing ones direct competition right in front of them. 

something about scratching the itch knowing it's only going to make the wound worse.

but she smiles, and she's pleasant - and frankly very good looking. taeyong concludes that baekhyun's type - despite not being such himself - is edgier, more alternative types. hyemi tends to lean further on that side than even taeyong does, with a few visible tattoos and some piercings that would be considered a bit extra by most korean standards, along with chin length bubblegum pink hair.

she's more taeyong's type than what he would expect from baekhyun.

"we were just headed to a place around the corner, do you want to tag along?"

he finds the question irritating. and irresponsible. and honestly just kind of fucked up. is he really this naive? does he really just  _ not get it _ ?

but taeyong is a gentleman, and politely declines the invitation - explaining that he has a hair appointment pretty early in the morning and he doesn't want to be tired for it as if it doesn't simply require him to sit in one place for a few hours but no one questions him because no one actually wants him to come along anyways. it's all pleasantries knowing that nothing is leading anywhere and taeyong might be realizing now that that's the entirety of his knowing baekhyun, maybe.

he's also finding that he's becoming resentful, and bitter, and angry - and they're not even together yet.

  
  
  
  


taeyong checks his phone, annoyed, standing outside of a new bar that he and the boys haven't yet tried, but they had been meaning to and now the other two were running late - extremely late. he quickly takes his phone from his pocket and flicks the screen up to unlock it, immediately typing into the text box - angry typing, as they call it.

"guys i've been here for 25 minutes what is the hold up"

"it's like 23 mins?" johnny responds. jaehyun replies immediately with a crying laughing emoji.

"i'm gonna leave if you guys don't get here in the next 5 mins"

"then leave! where are you gonna go! home?" jaehyun responds again. "we'll be there in 15 and so will you, shut up"

he rolls his eyes and locks his phone without bothering to respond because he knows that his friend is right and that is even more annoying than the initial lateness. tardiness is an extremely unbecoming quality, taeyong finds, and considers that even if jaehyun we're completely undateable in a multitude of other ways, he would be even more extremely undateable now.

taeyong thinks everything is a deal breaker.

but he sighs, peeking his head inside to the hostess and asking if he can use the restroom quickly, to which she agrees - knowing that he was waiting for his table anyways. he rushes inside, locking the door behind him and turning the light on to check his freshly made new hair. a silvery grey. the classic blonde was becoming boring to him and it was a new year, he needed a change (but not too much, as he had no problems finding excitement in his life as it were). he runs his fingers through it and straightens the tuck of his oversized shirt into his jeans before heading back outside to wait for his idiot friends - but he hears his name called as he passes the bar.

by a woman.

he stops, turns quickly either direction in an attempt to locate where the call had come from while also going through the rolodex of women in his mind that would be calling for him - he dated women, sure, but he'd have been lying if he said the numbers were anywhere close to even.

and then he spots her.

pink hair, a heavy eyeliner. tattoo stemming from her shoulder, up her neck and reaching behind her ear - some sort of nature-type etching of leaves and vines wrapping all around her body, almost nearly encasing her. he hasn't been able to notice it the first time they met but he had to be honest with himself - it did make her more appealing - even if she was sleeping with the guy he wanted to be sleeping with.

"hey uhh - hyemi, right?" he says, walking back over and bowing. 

"yeah, what a surprise," she says, smiling. he thinks she sounds genuine. he finds that bizarre.

he wonders if she knows literally  _ anything  _ about him at all.

"do you come here often?" 

"it's my first time actually, i was supposed to be meeting some friends but-" and he pauses, looking around in a joking manner, "as you can see…"

"ah, yes, if you're expecting men to be on time good luck to you," she chuckles, cocking her head to the side before taking a sip of her beer.

okay, she's actually kind of cool.

"anyways, you can hang out with me if you want, until they come. i actually work here so we're not taking up any space"

"oh that's cool, thanks," he replies, sitting himself in the stool next to her. he raises a finger to get the bartenders attention but hyemi raises hers higher, more commandingly, and motions to grab another drink and put it on her own tab. "thanks, i'll owe you"

"don't worry about it"

the two sit in a somewhat awkward silence for a few moments - for her because he's mostly a stranger, and for him, because he doesn't know entirely how to act whilst missing a massive amount of information. he figures that she comes off too inviting to know that taeyong is interested in baekhyun, or maybe she is just that confident. or maybe she and baekhyun don't actually have anything going on.

_ "this is my...hyemi" _

"is baekhyun here?" taeyong finally manages the bravery to ask.

"oh no," she responds quickly, "no, no, i'm here alone, just relaxing before i go home"

"i like your tattoos," he opens the dialogue again, "really cool"

"thanks, they were definitely a labor of love, the effects of i have to deal with every time i see my parents"

they both laugh.

the night carries on a few more beers in and taeyong finds the woman charming, and the more he watches her, and listens to her, the more he sees perhaps what baekhyun had seen in her. she's striking. beautiful. alternatively stunning. he considers he might have to start dating women more again, and especially if he can find more of them stylistically like this.

and it's another thing, the way she smiles at him, and looks at him, and eventually starts touching his arm, and his hand, and his leg as the night carries on - it definitely doesn't  _ hurt  _ his budding attraction to her.

taeyong is no stranger to the whims of a one night stand, nor is he unaware of what the signs of attraction look like - he just wonders how horrific it would be to go through with it - you know, given the circumstances.

it's a thought that comes and goes, after he wiggles her skinny jeans down ear of her legs individually and presses a finger into her, planting kisses along the inside of her thigh - each one eliciting another sigh that he's happy to hear. he's too busy to take  _ much  _ notice but he does at least take one moment to marvel at how eccentrically her apartment is decorated. apparently she likes bats.

it's the fashion student in him that doesn't let him get away with  _ ever  _ missing an opportunity to notice such things.

but his attention is pretty quickly drawn away with her sitting up and pulling him towards her, between her legs, and reaching into the night stand for a little silver package which she then hands to him. he's no stranger to this arrangement and takes the cue, kicking his own pants off and tossing his shirt down somewhere onto the floor. he leans down over her, body weight held up by his forearms on either side - he kisses hyemi on the mouth, hard. needy. she meets his intensity but he feels guilty about it at the same time.

taeyong feels as though the kiss gives up a bit too much of his vulnerability in the moment.

it's easily forgotten, however, when he feels delicate hands on either sides of his hips pulling him into her and he lets the sound of her sigh,  _ that  _ sigh, ring in his mind as he slowly pulls back, and then pushes back into her - eliciting another one, and another one, and by the fourth, the airy breaths turn into contented moans. taeyong wraps an arm up and into her hair, pulling her closer into him as if determined to collect every drop of intimacy he can from the experience.

he doesn't wish it was him, he's quite happy it's her, but his motivations might not all be in the right place.

he's a little disappointed in himself when he feels the familiar coil in his abdomen - unsure of  _ exactly  _ how long it's been but knowing it's nothing impressive. taeyong pulls his body weight up, arms stretched out above her as he sets into a rougher pace - watching her whine and moan beneath him. and he barely catches it, the breathy, lost whisper of  _ "taeyong, i'm-"  _ and he recalls this is actually one of the benefits of one night stands - the new partner buff - instantly makes any sexual experience just that much better, more exciting, more  _ satisfying _ . and he's thankful for it because his mind is kind of else where and he doesn't have much else to offer her as he rocks into her two, three more times - gritting his teeth and clamping his eyes shut as he groans and spills into the rubber - his release drowned out by the sound of her own.

  
  


taeyong knows it's wrong, the satisfaction he feels upon leaving - having little to do with the experience and almost everything to do with the nuance.

  
  
  
  


taeyong finally manages to muster up the strength to show his face back in the cafe -  _ "go figure" _ jaehyun says in response when taeyong tells him.

he arrives late, very late, nearly closing time late and baekhyun doesn't even look up despite hearing the ringing of the door bell upon entry. taeyong figures that he must have seen him walk up.

guess he knows about the other thing, also.

he doesn't bother setting his belongings down and heads straight to the counter to order to go. he decides to act normal. baekhyun decides otherwise.

"can i get-"

"walk me home tonight?"

and taeyong stops in his tracks, pulling his eyes from the menu up and behind the red hair that he was going out of his way to ignore and looking baekhyun straight in the eyes. "i'm sorry?"

"i'm off in 10 minutes," he says matter of a factly, "will you?"

taeyong thinks it feels like a set up but he's still a little too enamored to say no. so he doesn't.

  
  


when baekhyun finishes turning the key in the door, cutely huddled up in his winter clothes, he makes some passing comment about the snow and how much ice has been on the ground lately but if taeyong is honest, he doesn't really hear it, because he's too busy thinking about how cute baekhyun looks with a scarf half wrapped around his face, and sure, he desperately wishes he could just act normal around the man, but guess he's going to have to fuck a few more of the women that baekhyun himself takes interest in, first.

or maybe taeyong needs to get fucked, he considers, the saying  _ is  _ "the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else," maybe she should have been on top?

anyways.

the two boys share the sidewalk together, slowly walking in the direction of baekhyun's, but in silence. taeyong takes note of the way baekhyun is mostly only staring ahead, and it's uncomfortable.

not nearly as uncomfortable as the conversation about to take place, however.

"so, is this like, what you do?" baekhyun says. he still doesn't look at taeyong, but he knows.

_ ah, a set up indeed. _

taeyong doesn't reply because he doesn't know what to say. he doesn't feel totally wrong for what he did but he feels a  _ little  _ wrong for it. slightly. 

he knew what he was doing, yes.

"of all of the people in seoul and it had to be her, huh?"

"look, we're not like,  _ a thing _ -" he starts, but baekhyun cuts him off with a laugh of disbelief. "is that supposed to make me feel better? is that supposed to be  _ comforting?" _

"it can be whatever you want it to be," taeyong snaps back, "but she wasn't your girlfriend and i'm not your boyfriend so if you're just bummed about losing the race then i guess i'm sorry for that."

the two reach the front of baekhyun's apartment building, he mumbles something about taeyong being a  _ "fucking asshole"  _ while he fumbles around his coat pockets for his keys before finally managing to speak up audibly.

"you're a prick, you know that?"

and taeyong actually laughs, full on laughter, so much so that it startles baekhyun out of the trance of his key search and she stops.

"it's really amazing," taeyong starts, pulling his coat closer into himself from his pockets, "you really just don't even have a fucking clue, do you?"

"well," baekhyun sighs, eventually giving up rummaging through all of his belongings that could potentially hold a thing and realizing that his building tag has been lost  _ somewhere  _ throughout the day. "want to talk it out over a glass of water at your place?" he shamefully asks.

  
  
  
  


taeyong desperately hopes that there comes a day where he no longer is at the whim of byun baekhyun. he mulls this over as he fills two glasses of water over his kitchen sink in his and jaehyun's apartment. jaehyun - not home and not going to  _ be  _ home - thankfully left food in the fridge that taeyong decides is now thiers, without asking of course.

"you know i forgot to mention this the last time i was over," baekhyun says, swirling his chair around to face the common area of the rather small apartment. the two didn't own much, pretty bare minimum essentials due to the fact that neither spent much time there, but they  _ had  _ decided to splurge on a television and a couch, just in case they had to cozy up with some company.

just in case of nights like tonight.

"your area here is really nice"

"thanks," taeyong answers into his glass before actually setting it down to continue his thought. "we put all of our money into the living room as you can see."

"it's a cozy place."

  
  


the two huddle up on the couch and put a movie on, neither paying much attention to what the choice is because taeyong's mind was much too distracted to pay any attention no matter the film. they sit close - but not  _ too  _ close, and taeyong notices the way baekhyun catches a shiver occasionally and asks if he wants a blanked, to which baekhyun declines. but taeyong rolls his eyes, sighing and reaching over to the end of the sofa to pull and blanket up and over, eventually tossing the entire thing over baekhyun messily.

"was that really necessary?" baekhyun pouts. taeyong ignores him for the film that he's definitely only pretending to watch.

and barely any time passes before baekhyun flops half of the blanket onto taeyong so that they both inhabit it. taeyong feels his heart beat so loud he swears the other boy must be able to hear it.

but taeyong keeps his eyes on the screen. sort of. he's actually completely spaced out, staring off into space and hyper aware of every potential movement that the person next to him could make.

and does make.

taeyong feels baekhyun's hand slide out to his left, still under the blanket, until fingertips reach his hip - then reading up to his arm and slowly sliding down so that their hands meet.

the problem being, that taeyong's hands are sat in his lap, and next to his quickly growing erection.

taeyong tries to spy on baekhyun from the corner of his eyes without actually turning his head from a forward position but the only thing he can see is that baekhyun is  _ also  _ still facing a forward position - but with a smile on his face. taeyong swallows through his dry throat.

"hey taeyongie…" baekhyun finally breaks the silence with a low, nearly playfully seductive tone and still impishly fingering the area between taeyong's hand and the bulge growing in his jeans. taeyong doesn't know if he's actually supposed to answer this call.

"do you remember new years?" he adds on, now letting his hand fall more towards taeyong's pelvis and less trying to pass off the gesture as an innocent one - finding taeyong's length and tracing a finger up it.

taeyong bites back the verbal reaction, that is, for as long as he can until baekhyun quite deliberately fingers open the button to her pants and slides the full length of his hand inside, grasping around taeyong's cock and ever so delicately pulling at him. 

baekhyun has his full attention on the silver haired boy as the sigh falls from his lips - the look on taeyong's face appearing as though it was a secret he was intending to keep. baekhyun smiles.

he's trying to enjoy it, he really is, but the nervousness paired with the fact that his heart is beating out of his chest and he's already on edge gives taeyong a  _ lot  _ to think about in the moment. mostly, the edge part, and it's not until baekhyun steals his hand back but only to pull taeyong over him and onto his lap, that taeyong really comes to terms with the fact that this is  _ happening _ .

he wonders why part of him wishes he had an escape like he did back at chanyeol's. it's a lot. baekhyun is a lot.

and he's sort of thanking past taeyong and jaehyun on their couch choice, realizing that it has just enough firmness but also just enough give that - when positioned in such a way - that it's quite easy for taeyong to grind himself into baekhyun's lap for just the right amount of friction. baekhyun seems to notice this as well - snaking one arm around and behind taeyong to rest on his shoulder and give him leverage to pull taeyong down onto him. 

baekhyun reaches his other hand up to taeyong's chin, thumb tracing his jawline briefly before pulling him in for a kiss, and taeyong realizes that  _ this  _ is the one that he had been hoping for - feeling the way baekhyun's tongue faintly brushes up against his own and timed with the steady rolling of baekhyun's hips up into taeyong's.

taeyong brings his hands up, one placed on the couch and the other into the back of baekhyun's beautiful red hair, before finally just letting his head fall back and letting a throaty groan fall from his mouth.

it was finally happening, it was okay to enjoy it.

and baekhyun smiles, pulling himself forward and mouth up against taeyong's adam's apple, lightly pressing his lips on various places along the blonde's throat before whispering, for the second time, "do you finally want to feel me?" and taeyong can feel his lips curve into a devious smile as the words exit his mouth. he also doesn't get to answer before baekhyun slides his free hand - the one not on taeyong's shoulder - down to his hip to further have control of their pace, and he whispers again, "do you want to fuck me, or do you want to get fucked  _ by  _ me?"

taeyong would have been lying if he said it wasn't a little disappointing. not what baekhyun was saying, but rather the affect it had on him - the combination of the verbal stimulation with the physical, the longing, the anticipation - he tried to fight it back, he did his best, but he was past the point...groaning through gritted teeth, fingers digging into the back of baekhyun's head and he only opens his eyes during the fact long enough to see a sort of sly shock written across the red heads face.

he was a bit too satisfied with himself, as well, much to taeyong's dismay.

it's a slow come down, all things considered. no skin touched or genitals meeting and barely even a kiss, taeyong's starting to think he needs to get laid more often because this is becoming an issue. he catches his breath in baekhyun's lap as he slowly pulls away to grant them some space from one another and baekhyun just watches him with a smile.

an awed one, but a smile nonetheless.

"did you just-" baekhyun finally breaks the silence with a question that frankly, he knows the answer to.

"okay, we don't...have to…" taeyong starts, immediately beginning the descent down from atop the other, lightheartedly managing the situation, "it's not a big deal, could have happened to anyone!"

"well it didn't happen to me" baekhyun snorts, and taeyong shoots him a mocking glance, hobbling down the hall and towards his bedroom. baekhyun readjusts himself inside of his own pants - his own erection uncomfortable and likely not seeing relief tonight but he smiles, leaning over the side of the couch just a bit to shout down the hall towards the other boy.

"so is that, like, a 'no' to feeling me then?" he snickers.

and he hears the charming response shoot down the hallway, echoed by the emptiness of the walls of the apartment.

"oh my god, shut the fuck up!"


	5. 05.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 더 망쳐줘.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is RATED rated.
> 
> welcome to the end, hope you enjoyed the ride :)
> 
> trigger warning: mention of blood/open wounds

February.

  
  


it's taeyong's favorite month, mostly because the weather is perfectly suited to his tastes. it's cold, usually windy, the snow is on and off but the ice doesn't stick to the sidewalks so much. it rains a bit more than it normally would, too, and he enjoys spending time in his room, drawing up designs to the sounds of water droplets hitting his window. he keeps the lights dim, and lets quiet music fill the small space. he says it's his best working environment, where he can get the most done.

it's his last year in uni. he, like many other students who will also graduate that year, have already begun working on their end of the year final - the make or break of getting their degrees. 

taeyong spends a lot of time in the cafe now - even more than he originally had. it's maybe less about wanting to fuck baekhyun now and more about actually getting school work done, but he also feels like enough progress has been made on the baekhyun front that it's okay to set it on the back burner for a while. he thinks about what his graduation means. what the future means for them. what he's going to do when he's finished, where will he go. will he stay in seoul with his family? his friends?

him?

they're all thoughts that plague taeyong, but they have to. he's an adult and it's his responsibility to make decisions. no one will do it for him. he wonders how heavily he should factor baekhyun in to his future.

although, suppose that would require a conversation.  _ that  _ conversation.  _ what are we? what does this all mean? what is our future like together? _

not much scares him, but that does.

taeyong comes to quite suddenly, having realized he had zoned out to the visage of the man of his interest setting himself in the little wooden seat across the table from him. already smiling.

they had made a lot of progress in these months, he thinks to himself.

he checks the time on his phone. going on 9pm, and before he speaks, baekhyun mentions something about how he has to start closing up and if taeyong has any plans after this, to which he says no. mentions washing his hair as if that's some sort of ordeal and baekhyun laughs.

_ staying in seoul would probably be okay.  _

"no one's here so it's okay if you want to stay until i'm finished," baekhyun says, standing back up to finish his duties, "we can go wash your hair afterwards if you want"

taeyong knows he doesn't mean it in some sort of sexual way but he still tries to manufacture a sexual meaning in his head, eventually failing and giving up on the thought altogether. unfortunate.

  
  
  


taeyong ties his hair back into an unimpressive pony tail and starts gathering his belongings a little after 9, knowing that the closing duties on a rather slow day don't take that long. he shuffles numerous papers full of lackadaisical sketches and random words placed all about - none of it making any sense to anyone but him, he would imagine - into his work bag and starts wiping down his own table with a little brown napkin that he tends to keep with him at all times when he has food or drink there. he's not messy, particularly so, but especially since he's trying to get on the good side of the sexy barista.

"don't worry about it, i'll get it in a second!" he hears baekhyun call to him from behind the counter, already wiping down the area where drinks and food are passed along to patrons and taeyong acknowledges him with a look up, and then the tossing of his napkin into the trash just next to him.

"did you have anything else in particular you wanted to do tonight?" he finally asks, only now taking note of how wide the collar of baekhyun's black t-shirt is and how much neck and shoulder it shows. he tries to ignore it to focus.

he fails, but he does try.

"no, not really," baekhyun says, pushing the cash register drawer shut with his elbow and placing an envelope into the vacant space somewhere below. "apparently it's a whole excursion for you to wash your hair or something?"

"you're making it a bigger deal than it is!" taeyong snaps, playfully, "all i said was that that's all i had planned! let it go!"

baekhyun giggles and continues with his work as taeyong approaches the counter to spend more time with him, hopping up to sit on it - something he wouldn't normally be able to do during working hours. he kicks his feet cutely a bit, looking at his phone and sending a quick text into his group chat. jaehyun and johnny are going out and begging him to come, but he's a bit more interested in seeing where this hair washing thing goes. looking promising.

"hey, do you wanna come back here and give me a hand with something?"

"yeah, sure," taeyong hops back down and comes around through the employee door - his first time back there and it feels so scandalous as a non-employee, but he tempers his childlike giddiness over the trespassing he's doing and makes his way to baekhyun - holding a large rack of dishes.

"need this," baekhyun starts, nodding his head towards the direction of the empty counter space next to the sink, "up here"

"got it" taeyong answers immediately grabbing the rack with his own hands and pulling it up and towards the sink. baekhyun tells him to be careful to not let anything fall off and break and taeyong answers in a mocking tone as if he needs someone to tell him to not let things fall and break.

"don't get snappy with me!" he replies, jokingly, dropping the tray carefully on the countertop but jostling one of the clean knives off of the rack. and it's a natural reaction to reach for something that's falling to try and catch it and baekhyun does just that - only catching it by the blade and immediately letting it fall to the ground once again as he hisses and cusses under his breath.

"are you okay?" taeyong gasps, leaping towards baekhyun who now has one of the company dish rags held against his bloody palm. 

"yeah, it should be fine," he replies, looking around for something that he hopes is near to them. "there should be a first aid kit...somewhere around here, it might be in the back in the office"

"wash your hand, i'll go find it" taeyong says, quickly scurring to more unexplored areas of the cafe, although it  _ would  _ be more fun if he weren't somewhat worried that the object of his affection was about to bleed out right in front of him. a few moments that feel like hours go by of taeyong searching for the kit in question and he yells out that he can't find it, but baekhyun is only just around the corner, popping around the corner with it in his other hand. "it was under the sink, will you do me the honors?"

and the platinum blonde happily obliges, of course. snapping open the little plastic locks and rifling through the items to find gauze, wrap, and some antiseptic. baekhyun sits down in the chair behind the office desk and patiently waits for taeyong to finish playing nurse so that he can then graduate to doctor and treat him. he thinks it's charming, actually.

"is it bad? was it bad when you washed it?"

"it's not that bad, no, it's still bleeding," baekhyun answers, slowly unwrapping the towel, "but i've definitely had worse, i don't think that knife was particularly sharp"

he pulls the fabric from his cut and exposes it to the both of them. it's evident, definitely, but it's not gushing blood and internally taeyong sighs in relief because truthfully, he is not good with blood and didn't really want to have to pass out in front of the love of his life when he's actually supposed to be  _ saving  _ the love of his life.

he stops for a moment and considers that he just thought the L word. he decides to not think about that.

taeyong stoops to his knees to get a better angle of baekhyun's hand - he tries not to pay too much attention to the fact that he's set right between the other mans knees, and he can feel baekhyun is looking at him so he simply tries to focus on the task at hand - literally - taking it into his own and carefully applying clear gel to the wound. he can feel that baekhyun is watching his every move.

he's not sure if it's sexual energy or nervous energy that's suffocating him in the tiny office.

he finally gets the gauze placed well, and begins wrapping baekhyun's hand. he takes a moment to let his eyes crawl up to meet baekhyun's and it is true - he's being watched. every motion. beady, brown eyes follow him.

sexual or nervous, he feels it in his jeans all the same.

"you know taeyong, i've been thinking," baekhyun says, breaking the silence, finally pulling his eyes from watching the blonde boy just beneath him, "about the last time we were together"

taeyong swallows, hard, and watches baekhyun's free, uninjured hand slowly make it's way down from the arm rest of the chair and down towards the front of his jeans - lightly fingering at the button - right in eye shot of taeyong given their respective height levels.

and it's not the scene that baekhyun had been setting up, when taeyong pushes himself up and off his knees, practically into baekhyun's lap and kisses him - hard. like he's never kissed him before in his life despite the fact that he has. baekhyun is a little taken aback but doesn't fight it and just as he begins to settle into the kiss, finds that taeyong has already pulled away and established himself back down onto his knees from which he came.

and now  _ his  _ fingers are wrapping themselves around the button of baekhyun's pants.

taeyong kind of hopes that baekhyun doesn't say anything, because he's a smart ass and always has  _ something  _ annoying to say about everything and prays that just for once they can just have a moment.

baekhyun must have heard the silent plea.

taeyong quickly makes work of the button, and the zipper, and just as fast does he pull at the hem of baekhyun's jeans, motioning him to lift himself off the chair so that they can continue to be removed. it's a sight the needy boy has been waiting for - fantasizing about for  _ months  _ now. he hasn't yet seen it in full but he can see the length, girth, curvature under the last thin barrier keeping him from what he's so  _ desperately  _ been trying to get to.

he's finally going to get it.

snaking his fingers up to the hem of the boxer briefs he much more slowly pulls them - up and over and  _ then  _ down - slender legs, and he tries not to make a scene but he thinks some ridiculous metaphor like being stranded in a desert and then stumbling upon an oasis. dramatic. but that's taeyong.

he looks up at baekhyun, meeting eyes before he even touches him and taeyong can see that the look on his face is heady - already a little desperate and full of desire. eyes begging to be touched but not wanting to say the words, and taeyong thinks  _ who am i to say no? _ it's the most beautiful thing taeyong's ever seen. baekhyun's desire for him. 

reciprocation.

taeyong lightly places a palm on the underside before delicately wrapping his fingers around to pull it up and towards him, shuffling forward to get more into position and he tries to maintain eye contact with baekhyun as much as he can. despite how much he's wanted this for months, now  _ he's  _ in the drivers seat. he receives a  _ bit  _ of joy from making him suffer.

but he has, after all, been waiting far too long for this and asking him to wait much longer is a tall order, so it's only a few moments before taeyong lets his mouth drop open and his head turn to the side, pressing his tongue to the side of baekhyun's shaft and  _ slowly _ pulling up - applying extra pressure to the head, and then descending down, taking as much into his mouth at once as he can. he can't see baekhyun, but he can  _ hear  _ baekhyun, and he thinks that might actually be even better. taeyong isn't a time waster and he's a little too worked up after months and months of what he's now writing off as torturous role play and he rather quickly settles into a comfortable pace on baekhyun's cock, swishing is tongue around the tip when he comes up, and taking more and more length into his mouth every time he dips down. he feels baekhyun's good hand wrap into his hair, at first stroking the back of his head but quickly grasping into the strands and somewhat forcefully holding taeyong's mouth in place and he also begins to jerk his hips up now and then. if taeyong is honest, he hasn't sucked cock in a while so he's a little out of practice as far as how the logistics of face fucking go, but he's willing to give it a shot.

_ ruin me. i'm yours. _

it's a little tough on him physically, trying to get comfortable with the intrusion, wetness welling in his eyes just slightly but the focus on the  _ sounds _ falling from baekhyun's mouth is more than enough to keep him from ever requesting that it stop, or to even slow down. in the completely silent office the only sounds in the room are the hisses and cusses from baekhyun and the obscene, wet sounds of the sloppy blowjob being received by him.

it's really everything taeyong ever wanted.

and he wants to continue on, the arousal in his own pants becoming all too distracting and painful up against the confines of his  _ always  _ much too tight jeans. he reaches down and fumbles with freeing himself from his own clothes, finally managing to wrap a hand around himself and award himself some much needed friction, groaning around baekhyun's cock at just the slightest bit of sensation. 

baekhyun's eyelids crack back open at the sound and the feeling and pulls taeyong's mouth onto him again, holding him in place for a few moments and feeling taeyong  _ somewhat  _ struggle to accommodate the invasion.

but he also notices the way it makes taeyong tug harder at himself, out of sight but his arm gives him away.

"ah, so you like it," baekhyun half-whispers to him, knowing taeyong can't respond, "all this time, you've just wanted me to wreck you"

the words go straight into taeyong's ears and down to his already fully erect cock, but he feels that familiar coil bubble up in his stomach again and he's trying not to let it happen again. baekhyun has quite an unfortunate effect on him. however, it makes no difference either way as it's within seconds that baekhyun pulls him by the hair off of his shaft and before taeyong can really gather the change of pace they're both standing up, and then he's face first bent over the desk - on top of papers and pens and other random items with one of baekhyun's hands planted firmly -  _ very firmly  _ \- against the middle of his back. head cocked to the side but barely able to keep baekhyun in his vision, he winces at the discomfort of all of the items splayed out beneath his body - but he's easily distracted by the feeling of fingers probing at him from behind.

"how long have you been thinking about it?" baekhyun says again in the same seedy, lewd voice as before, popping his middle finger in his mouth and then pressing it up against taeyong.

taeyong doesn't answer right away, trying to use his hands to remove uncomfortable things from under him and give himself some space between the desk and baekhyun's hand that's pressing him into it. he manages to squeak out a simple "i-" but it's not good enough, and baekhyun pops his fingertip inside of the boy beneath him - eliciting an ever so slight hiss from the silvery blonde.

it's definitely not going to be the ideal scenario, taeyong thinks to himself in regards to the lack of proper  _ utilities _ , as it were, but it's so fucking hot that he also doesn't care. 

"months, right?" baekhyun adds, gently pumping into taeyong and not waiting as long as he probably should have to fit another finger in - another hiss escaping taeyong's lips. "pretty much since the day you saw me, huh?"

taeyong still doesn't answer him and just tries to focus mentally on relaxing his muscles. anal sex mental gymnastics. but baekhyun wastes no time reaching around with his uninjured hand to taeyong's now only semi-erect cock, wrapping his long, slender fingers around and gentle pulling at him. it helps.

baekhyun has done this before.

taeyong mewls into his shoulder, his arm stretched out in front of him in an attempt to hide his face and soften his vocalizations and baekhyun watches him, multitasking quite efficiently he notes to himself at the rate in which taeyong begins to come done beneath him.

and he hasn't even fucked him yet.

when baekhyun finally finds taeyong more pliable, he leans forward - chest to taeyong's back and mouth as close to ear as he can manage and taeyong notes that he can hear the smile on baekhyun's face when he says the words.

"i'm going to ask you  _ one more time,"  _ and taeyong feels baekhyun pull his fingers from him and replace the emptiness with the tip of his length,  _ "do you finally want to feel me?" _

he doesn't wait for a verbal response because he knows. because they both know. taeyong - for all intents and purposes - grins and bears it for the first push. eyes and teeth clamped tight as baekhyun presses  _ slowly _ into him. baekhyun knows it hurts, he knows it's not ideal.

he also knows how badly they both want it regardless.

when baekhyun pauses, taeyong stops holding his breath and tries to deep breaths himself into relaxing, and baekhyun starts making use of those beautiful hands on his cock, stroking taeyong at enough of a pace that it's distracting from the other, much more distinct feelings. but much to baekhyun's surprise, it doesn't take that long before taeyong gets comfortable enough that he presses himself back against baekhyun - lightly - so much so that baekhyun almost misses the cue as a result of all of the other matters he has at hand.

and for a moment, just a moment, he has to break character.

"is it okay?"

"yeah" taeyong breathes out in response. "i want it"

baekhyun doesn't need more than that as far as direction goes, pulling his hand back up from taeyong temporarily and comfortably placing both at the boys hips - slowly pulling himself out and then guiding back in to test the reluctance - the physical and verbal responses.

"please"

and baekhyun pulls him down onto his cock, hard, for the first time - eliciting what sounds like a somewhat pained, but mostly pleasured groan from the blonde boy and he doesn't need any more hints than that.

baekhyun pulls his shirt up, letting it bunch and hang from around his neck as he settles into a quick, relentless pace against taeyong. hands running all over the body beneath him as the sounds of their groans, sighs, and cusses fill the thick, heavy air around them. hair matted to the front of their foreheads shortly into the stint. baekhyun eventually leans down again, chest to back of taeyong and groans into his ear,  _ "do i feel good?"  _ and before taeyong can answer, adds,  _ "can i fill you up?" _

the words and the subsequent thought that follows alone almost bring taeyong to orgasm but he manages to hold it together, biting  _ hard  _ into his bottom lip. 

he's never been cummed in before. in fact, this is the first time he's taken dick raw to begin with. but based on the immense physical response to it that he just had he figures there's a first time for everything - like fucking in the back office of the cafe you frequent.

he manages to whisper back a simple "yeah" but naturally, it is not lewd enough a response for baekhyun and he requires more. "'yeah' what?" he starts, pulling himself off of taeyong and placing his right hand on taeyong's shoulder as leverage to return to an almost violent pace into the man beneath him. "tell me what you want. say it."

"i want you to come inside me" taeyong answers back immediately, much to both of their surprise, through gritted teeth and a deep moan trailing off the tail end of his sentence.

it does a number on baekhyun's timeline.

feeling himself quickly approaching the point of no return he reaches down to taeyong's cock again with his left hand - his good hand - smearing precum onto his fingers and using it as lubricant as best as he can as he strokes taeyong - fast now - much to taeyong's surprise as he loses what little bit of awareness he has left and is reduced to a whimpering, breathy mess - sprawled out on the office desk beneath the both of them. baekhyun's thrusts start to lose to rhythm they once had, as do the strokes of his hand and taeyong realizes it's a race that baekhyun is actually desperately trying to lose - which, coincidentally - works wonders for him as he first whispers the name repeatedly at the come up,  _ "baekhyun, baekhyun, baekhyun-"  _ and then releases through clenched tight teeth an incredibly loud, almost pained groan as he spills cum onto baekhyun's fingers, and other such places not of concern to him then.

the sound and feeling of taeyong's cock throbbing into his hand as he pumps through his release is a relief to baekhyun, finally no longer having to focus on anything else but his own orgasm. pulling his cum covered hand back up and placing it onto taeyong's hip right along with the injured one to press himself into his own oncoming release, it doesn't take long. the visual of taeyong - breathless, unraveled,  _ fucked _ , beneath him - it's five, six, seven more strokes before he presses in as hard and as deep as he can,  _ "i'm-"  _ is the only warning he manages to get out but it's not necessary - taeyong in his heightened, over-stimulated state - feeling baekhyun's cock pump cum into him and listening to the long groan that accompanies it.

he's kind of glad they never fucked any of those other times if this was the consolation prize he ended up with after all.

baekhyun offers a few more weak thrusts into taeyong after he comes down from his orgasmic high before pulling himself from the other man entirely - a whine of discomfort dropping from taeyong's lips as a result. taeyong turns himself around, slowly - his body feeling almost battered as if he had just been in a physical altercation - matching baekhyun who is also leaned with back toward the desk that they had just defiled. both out of breath, and so slowly attempting to clothe themselves again in the aftermath of what had been a long time coming.

they're both silent, however. what's there to say? "thanks for the sex?"

taeyong starts to feel the awkwardness of the encounter close in on them and also knows he has to get to a bathroom, like,  _ now.  _ did it happen? did sex ruin it?

"i need," he starts, sheepishly, and baekhyun already knows what he's asking for, telling him there's an employee bathroom out of the office and to the right. guess it's not  _ his  _ first time coming in somebody.

and when taeyong comes back, baekhyun is more or less cleaned up, pants back up but not buttoned - crumpled tissues in hand and sort of laughing.

"what's funny?" taeyong reluctantly asks, because whatever is funny, that's not what he wants to talk about right now.

"just," baekhyun starts, then shrugs because it's just the hilarious fact of the matter of the situation. "cleaning up your cum off the floor and desk"

"well whose fault is that?" taeyong replies smugly, appreciating that the tenseness of the room seems to be clearing up.

"i'm happy to take responsibility"

and it's that moment, that silence takes the room again and the two simply stand in the presence of one another. taeyong knows that now, enough is enough.

baekhyun clears his voice in sort of a nervous laughter sort of way, and before he can even manage to get another word or sound out, taeyong interjects.

the words sound like ringing in baekhyun's ears. they're so loud. 

_ "i think i love you" _

  
  


the two stare at each other for what feels like - to taeyong - an eternity. raw and vulnerable much more so than any sexual encounter count ever leave him, this was the moment that was everything. it wasn't the fucking, it wasn't the kissing or the sexual blunders all leading up to the moment. it was this. it was the sitting in the same cafe for hours with nothing to do just in  _ hopes  _ that baekhyun would notice he was there. it was the way snow looked sprinkled into baekhyun's hair. it was all of the annoying comments jaehyun would make about the way he saw baekhyun look at taeyong even though taeyong never saw it and, quite frankly, thought jaehyun was making it up to make his sad, lonely, pathetically enamored friend feel better.

it was the previous night they had spent together, staying up almost all night just talking, sharing, exposing.

taeyong realized then that he loved the 3am version of people: real, honest, vulnerable.

and when baekhyun doesn't answer him in, what feels like too long, his heart sinks to his stomach.

_ please say something. say anything. you can tell me no, that would be okay too. _

"oh, taeyong," baekhyun finally says, cooing almost. 

the ping of regret hits him like a truck. he knows that's not fair, but it doesn't change the feeling.

he watches baekhyun slowly make his way over to him and self preservation kicks in. taeyong feels almost as if he's not even there, in the room anymore. physically, yes, but mentally and emotionally he finds himself desperately trying to escape the enclosure of the tiny back office. a space once full of intimacy and expression now feeling stifling, suffocating to him. when baekhyun finally does make the few steps to meet face to face with taeyong, he's not looking at him - rather, looking  _ through  _ him.

baekhyun reaches a hand up to touch taeyong's face and taeyong pulls away from it, but baekhyun rolls his eyes and forcefully grabs the other by the face, pulling him into a deep, full kiss, and when the two pull away, baekhyun sighs.

"you're so dramatic, you art kids"

taeyong stares at him.

"you  _ think?" _ baekhyun says, sort of mocking the boy in front of him. "i think it's pretty obvious, but that's okay,  _ i think  _ i love you too"

"are you fucking kidding me?" taeyong snaps back. he's mad. he's sort of mad. he's like, a  _ little  _ mad, but it's hard to be mad given the information just learned.

  
  


but baekhyun just smiles at him, kisses him on the top of his head, and hands him the bunch of crumpled up cum rags - walking past him and back into the main area of the cafe.

"i have to finish closing up, so then, my place or yours?"

  
  


taeyong decides on seoul after all.


End file.
